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Oṁ Sukhlam Kevalaṁ Gyātiṁ Dvandātītaṁ Gagana-sadṛśaṁ Tasmāsyādi-lakṣaṁ Ekaṁ Nityaṁ Vimalāchalaṁ Sarvadhi-sākṣī-bhūtaṁ Bhava-tītaṁ Triguna-rahitaṁ Satguruṁ Tāṁ Nāmāmyahaṁ. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Shanti to the cosmic light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In the divine presence, very good evening, dear brothers and sisters. Welcome to you all, and dear sister Helena, I am so happy to see you again. The respected president of the Yoga Union, and dear media. Indeed, it is my great pleasure to see you again. In the past 20 years, we were not separated. My prayers and my thoughts were always with you. Good wishes are with you. Many brothers and sisters from this part of the world used to come to India, to Austria, America, and Australia also. Mentally, we were not far away. The body is limited, and we should not be attached to this body. The problem is the attachment. The entire problem created in our life is our body. Of course, we are not here without the body, and the body is the problem. That is the kind of struggle in life. There is one story I remember. There was a king, a very well-known king. His name is known around the whole world. One afternoon, he had a little rest. We call it Yoga Nidrā. Yogī Janakī Yoga Nidrā Birla Sant Janjanī Mahāprabhujī wrote a beautiful bhajan, or a song. I think it was in 1928. He wrote this bhajan. In it, he said only yogīs know the beauty of the yoga nidrā. It seems they are sleeping, but they are not sleeping. Especially, they are more awakened. Perhaps in this weekend seminar, I will take this point, this subject, also. It is beautiful. Many, many problems can be solved if we practice yoga nidrā properly. It is like you are scanning your whole body, your mind, your consciousness, your intellect, your emotions. And you can filter everything. So, according to Mahāprabhujī’s bhajans, there are about nine to eleven steps of yoga nidrā. Well, I should not forget this story. The king had an afternoon rest, and he fell into a dream. In the dream, he was born as a prince. He enjoyed princelyhood for many years, and he married and also became a king—a good king. One day, it happened that another king attacked his kingdom. For six months, the fight was going on, the battle. Unfortunately, he was a loser. He was fighting the battle for six months. Finally, he saw that all his soldiers had gone. Life is dear to everyone. No one would like to die. It doesn’t matter who is who. Even a little ant doesn’t want to die. It would like to enjoy life. That means every creature has one common thing. It doesn’t matter if it is a human or an animal, any creature. We all have one thing in common, and that is fear. And it is not easy to get rid of the fear. Even in yoga we say we are immortal. Ātmā is immortal, never dies. In the Bhagavad Gītā, God Kṛṣṇa said, "No weapon can kill that ātmā." Fire cannot burn it. No elements can destroy it. And death cannot take it away. That I am immortal, everlasting, divine, one with the cosmic Self. That is the ātmā, yours and mine, and other creatures. But it is born again and again; the soul is individual. Ātmā is universal, and therefore the body is also individual. The soul is individual. Like it is fluttering on the waves of the tides. Život pluta na talasima vremena, through the entire universe. Kroz celi univerzum, experiencing happiness and unhappiness, pain and pleasure, birth and death. So, the fear of death. We know that the body is not immortal. We don’t know when, where, or how this body will fall on the ground. And you will not be able to move even a small finger. We don’t know who will be the first from all of us now. And thanks to God, we don’t know. Otherwise, we would have a heart attack already. The subject is the ancient wisdom of modern life. I am comparing the ancient wisdom with this modern situation. It is hard to apply in life, but it is there. We just have to change our way of thinking. The king was very, very sad and scared, and he ran away. You see, it is said the hero from the battlefield never shows his back. But it is the fear which can make you show your back. So for the sake of his people, he tried to still save his life. And he disappeared into the forest. Desperate, hungry, tired, fearful, sad. All conditions he had, hiding behind the trees daytime, and spending the night on the tree at night because of the wild life. It took him about 15 to 20 days. He was very hungry, nothing to eat, hardly anything to drink. So, the second thing we all have in common, every creature, is hunger. Hunger is our master, who will wake us up from deep sleep and lead us to the kitchen. Hunger. There is a long story about hunger. At the time of the creation, the Cosmic Parliament made a decision to create a creation on this planet. There were many things: how it will be, what it will be. If it were only born and born, there would be no space. Then came death, but no one will die from their own wish. So I will not tell you the whole story. So it was the term of the element of fire, agni. And that Agni said, "I will enter in the stomach of the creatures." What will happen? They will be hungry. What will they eat? That was the question. So it is written: "Jīva jīva bhakṣate." Life will eat life. Oh, God. Terrible. Cruel. They said yes. That’s why they will come back, and this recycling system will be sustainable. Otherwise, the planet would be again without any creatures. Life eats life. But it is terrible. How will we come out of this cycle? 8.4 million different creatures, so we create one creature which will have a powerful intellect, and that intellect will be connected with compassion and love, and that will be human. Then, human will know about good and bad, and that human will not kill the others. That human will come out of this cycle, but not only this, the discipline, the practice. This is how yoga begins. Well, the king was so tired and was crying. "In earlier days, I had everything. I was strong. I had so many slaves, and now I am hiding myself and hungry." So he went for begging, and somewhere after 20 days he saw a farmer’s house, and he went to the farmer. Of course, they did not know that he was a king, and he asked for some bread. The farmer’s lady was very kind, and she gave him bread, butter, and things to eat. The king said, "Sister, is there a possibility somewhere, because first I want to wash myself?" She said, "Yes, 200 meters far, it’s a beautiful lake. You can wash yourself, swim." So he takes the bread in his hand. And on the way to the lake, look at the destiny. What destiny is playing with us? A big, hungry dog comes and attacks the king to take away the bread from him. So the dog jumped on the king and took the bread. The king fell down. While falling down in those minutes, the king was thinking, "Destiny, what are you playing with me? There was a day when people were afraid of my name. And today, I’m not capable of fighting even against a dog." And he fell down. While falling down, he woke up. It was only 18 minutes of sleep. But how many years was he in the dream? So there are different times: human times, astral times, universe times, and dream times. He woke up, and everything was there. Now he had one question. What is reality? Was the dream reality? Or, is this the reality? When I go to dream, this reality disappears, and when I come out of the dream, the dream reality disappears. He was searching for the answer, and he met a master, and the master taught him: neither this is a reality, nor the dream is a reality, but the reality is that which was present in both situations. And that was the king, Janaka, and his master, Aṣṭāvakra. Many of you know, some don’t know, now you know. So, life is something. Therefore, yoga is not only the science of body and mind, but also of consciousness. Practicing yoga means mastering life. And what does it mean to master life? To keep your life fit or healthy, that you have your emotions under control, that you have your physical body under control, that you have your intellect under your control. And we think, "What is the sense of my life?" Great Śaṅkarācārya speaks: Who am I? From where do I come? And for what did I come? What am I doing? And where will I go? Who am I? What is the purpose of this life? Only a human can think of that. And therefore, by the birth—not this physical birth from the mother’s body—your first birth date is that when, from the astral world, you as the soul were released to descend on this planet. That was exactly your birth date. So, if you are doing astrology, a horoscope, then you should do it from that point. But how should you know? That’s it. And for that, you have to practice yoga to know. That’s called Trikāla Darśī, knower of past, present, and future. That you will see: there is a group of souls, they are moving together, master and disciples, they are moving together. They are one, multiplying into many, to come and bring the message: one place as a master, another place as a disciple. And then they go again. So, life and life relation we have. Your mother, your father, your brothers, your sisters, your relatives, even your house pets, they have a relationship. The body doesn’t matter, the soul, and they support each other. And therefore, you, my dear, have a dharma, means duty, responsibility. That you have a dharma, a duty towards the parents, and as parents, you have a duty, responsibilities towards children. You have your dharma towards your wife, and your wife has a dharma towards you. If you protect dharma, dharma will protect you. Now, in this modern education, the ethics, the education is missing. And we do not respect the dharma, and that’s why we are suffering. Let’s say one example. We humans know what a relation is. I met Helena 30 years ago. And since that time, whenever we see each other, we are very happy. This is the beauty of human life, and this is the ancient wisdom. But nowadays, yes, I know that already. This is the ancient wisdom. When we see our teacher from our school time, old generation, like I am also a little old, when we see our teachers, we respect them. Nowadays, you never care about it. We lost that love, that relation, that dharma. And when we lost the Dharma, it’s not one side. It’s both sides. One tire of the car is flat. It means the other three tires are suffering. So when one family member doesn’t follow the Dharma, all other members of the family are suffering. And that’s imbalanced now, our society. Our ecology, the entire system is unbalanced. About three days ago, I was standing in New Delhi at the counter for checking in for airplanes. And suddenly they said, "Sorry, system failed." So we had to wait 20 minutes. The entire system was collapsed. Now, the same thing is happening in human lives, and it will happen. Suddenly, the system will fail. Because humans lost the human dharma. And our dharma is to be a protector, a supporter, and to get that realization. And we know how to do it, but we don’t have willpower. We have no motivation. Now is the time they call capsule time. You have a stomach problem, take one capsule, finished. But you don’t know how much side effect will be. But these yoga people and yoga teachers, the Hellenists, will not take a capsule. If she had taken so many capsules, I would not have seen her here today. So it’s an example of yoga. I don’t want to tell you how young she is, but she’s younger than you think. Yoga keeps her young. Mentally, we are always young. But the body is getting old, so it doesn’t matter what it is. Āyurveda, the first instruction or slogan in Āyurveda is... The Āyurveda system is very, very old. Coming from Satyuga time, in Satyuga, when the ocean was churned, that time Dhanvantari appeared as Viṣṇu, and he brought with him Amṛta Kalaś, and that was the birth of Āyurveda. Before also was Āyurveda. So that was Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga, now we are in Kali Yuga. So the first and the father of all medicine is Āyurveda. And there were two, Āyurveda and Yoga. These are two wings for a bird to fly. Both have to be balanced. Āyurveda for physical and yoga for mental to keep the balance. So Āyurveda says that the first happiness, or the first wealth, is good health. And for that, it is practiced. Health you cannot buy; health you have to maintain, you have to practice. So for that purpose, yoga began. It is designed for a human. It doesn’t matter which religion you believe, which culture, the gender, the role, or the age. It is here. Practice. Tons of theory is nothing compared to a gram of practice. So take time to practice every day. Yes. There is some problem. Many different people came out and began to teach yoga. Which is good and not good? Yoga is like a tree growing. It takes a seed time to grow into a large tree. It’s like from nursery school until university. You know, when the first time you begin to write A and B, how did you hold the pen? And the parents said, "Oh, beautiful." But when you came to the university, then you could write nicely. Similarly, Yoga in Daily Life is a system which has many, many faculties: physical, mental, spiritual, social, ecological, for peace, and so on. And it is gradually, gradually practiced. And some people, when you come, immediately put you in the soldier’s standing, or Bhujaṅgāsana, or Śīrṣāsana. These are for very young people, who are about 18, 20, 25, you know. Nowadays, our age limit is 60. So when you are 30, celebrate your midlife crisis. Finished. You have come up, now you are going down. But for the practitioners of yoga, it is still 100 years, minimum. So after 50 years, you have a beautiful time to remain there for some decades. And then may you decrease. So it is not that your body is going away earlier. Except accident. That’s a different destiny. Or a very severe infection. That’s also an accident. We yogis do not deny allopathic medicine. I personally support it because allopathic medicine has its own place. Āyurveda has its own place, and yoga has its own place. So don’t say that you don’t want to take medicine. Yes, if you are healthy, you can say yes, but who knows? Therefore, that’s also good, but prevention is much better than treatment. And therefore, yoga will keep you healthy for a long time. And when you are healthy, you will be more happy, and you will so-called enjoy more life, which means to help others and to experience this beautiful world. The yoga definition which I used to give, which I feel, which I realize, in a few minutes I will tell you this glimpse. In the Vedas, it is said... Anant Brahmāṇḍ. Brahmāṇḍ means the universe. Endless, Anant means endless. We don’t know where is the bottom, and we are limited ones. How should we know, as a limited one, the limitless? Only through one thing. Through meditation, the yogis were researching each and every planet. And whatever now the modern, through the instruments and the scientists, are telling, everything is written in yogic scriptures and in the Vedas. Not one percent is new, what they are telling. Can you think? This instrument of the humans is unbelievable. Unbelievable, through the astral traveling. And one thing, when you travel astrally, you don’t feel cold. You will not be frozen, and your speed is very high. It doesn’t take you even a quarter of a second to go from one planet to another planet. That is called the power of meditation, the mental power through the human brain. And you can achieve this, but we have to practice. Long, Anant Brahman, endless universe, that is a space that is called cosmic mother, that is a body of the mother. Therefore, it is said in the Upaniṣad, "Mātṛ Devo Bhava." First, God is the mother, see that. That’s called universal mother. And that mother principle is still there, even a mother of the animals. A mother is a mother, and you cannot understand the pain of the mother. Never cause pain to your mother. One elderly lady, a few years ago, while dying, she told her son: Tell people, when you were born, your mother was with you. Now, when mother will die, you should be with her. That time, doesn’t matter how much duties or work you have, be with her. That is the greatest love, and happiness will be for your mother. Further, your decision now that space is full of the consciousness, that’s called cosmic consciousness. It’s within, not outside. Is not that space in consciousness, but consciousness in the space. And that’s called Hiraṇya Garbha, golden embryo. Cosmic consciousness. That’s called the golden egg. Everything in that and out of that egg is born. I am one, and now I will. Now, between the consciousness and space, there is some energy called Śakti, and that which balances, harmonizes, and unites the space and consciousness. And that is called yoga, not this exercise, this and that, up and down. That’s good for our bones, muscles, and joints. But I would like to be a yogī. Yes. We would like to be a yogī, and it’s never too late. And so, Anant Brahmāṇḍa Śāstra Sūrya’s endless universe and thousands of sun systems are created by one consciousness. And that consciousness is that one which you also have. And therefore our Master, Holy Gurujī, Swāmī Madhavānandajī used to say, "I am body" is the ignorance. I am pure consciousness is the wisdom. So pure consciousness, that is the universal one, ātmā, and that you can realize through yoga practice. Slowly, slowly, things developed. They call it bhakti yoga, karma yoga, rāja yoga, jñāna yoga, Kriyā Yoga, Ānanda Yoga, Nāda Yoga, Chahar Yoga, Khecharī Yoga, many, many yogas. But finally, it is yoga. And everyone has a different nature. And according to that, you can practice, but you need a master. You need that yoga teacher who has been practicing many, many years. Unfortunately nowadays, people go for holidays for 10 days, attend yoga classes, and come with the yoga teacher certificate and say, "Yoga teacher." Then it’s like the blind leads the blind, so we need some good teachers, lifelong, we’re practicing and teaching. And still, this person doesn’t dare to say that I’m a teacher. And such a person does not even dare to say, "I am a teacher of yoga." Badāī, badāī, na kare, badā, ne bole, bol, rahiman, hīrā, kab kahe, lak, hamārā, mol. Clear? Is it clear? Do you understand? Badāī, badāī, nah kare, dak. Great ones never speak about themselves, that "I am great." When does a diamond tell us that I am a diamond? I am a diamond. And my value is billions of dollars, or whatever you call it. Diamond doesn’t speak, but we say, "Oh, it’s diamond." Similarly, a great one will never say, "I am a yoga teacher, come to me." That means you know what kind of teacher it is. But luckily, in your country, you have many, many good yoga teachers. And in your blood, you have that tendency to practice. And we are very much similar, connected to India. And if you see the political part of life, then also India has a very good relation to your country. Past all the stories, you will see that India and your country have always been very friendly to me. So we are there. So ancient wisdom is this: respect, understand, love. Practice tolerance. Tolerance in religions. Understand the situation of individuals, as well as the nations. Respect the cultures, and love. Everyone would like to be happy. Then you will live a happy and safe life. Others will also be happy and live a safe life. So, yoga will awaken in your heart that original love of the human quality. And that’s what we call Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. Awakening of the chakras, what is that? The first chakra, when it awakes, is mūlādhāra. Four petals, that means happiness, contentment, freedom, and compassion. These are the four qualities that awake in you. And then the svādhiṣṭhāna, then maṇipūra, Anahata. You will never know that your Kuṇḍalinī is already awakened. But your life will turn into the positive and divine. And that’s a miracle of yoga. And what is a good thing? You live as you are living. With dharma, family dharma, also you are employed, so you follow your dharma. Otherwise, there are many people who go to the office and first they drink coffee, then telephone their friends. Now, thanks to God, they have computers. So they know who was dialing, what time, in which country. But before a few decades, when they came in ex-Yugoslavia, in the office they came and telephoned to Canada. And the company boss said, "My God, why so highly? Billy is there." Company and the coffee, and then work a little. That nation will not develop, so we have to follow our dharma. You may phone, no problem, but leave money there and write, "So many minutes I was calling, please." This is dharma. Imagine that you have some guest, and the guest will telephone the whole night. Next time you will not welcome that guest. So, feel others’ property, others’ loss, others’ matters as your own. And that is good. So yoga will make you happy. Yoga will make you healthy. And yoga will develop in you that personality so that you can achieve your goals. You will become more spiritual. And finally, you will come close to the realization of your Ātmā. So this was a glimpse of the ancient wisdom on how to utilize it in modern times. And you are carrying that with you. You know all this that I told you. It means you have it within you. You just have to use it. So, the last word I remember, four years ago in New York, I went to an old home, and there was about a 104-year-old lady, and she was a yoga teacher there, like Helena. She’s not 104, okay? And she was actively teaching. I was looking to my birthday and looking to myself, how I will be 104 years. Because, do I practice? You will be surprised. I don’t practice every day. The truth is truth, but why? Because I’m traveling so much. Sometimes I’m happy to just lie down. So my practice is this: that I help thousands of people, and, of course, my spiritual sādhanās I’m doing. That lady told me, "Swamiji, here is a picture of my master." So it’s very clear that at that time, yoga was already in America. And her master told her one mantra, and that mantra was, "You have yoga. Use it or lose it." And that’s why you have yoga in daily life: use it or lose it. Now, it depends on you. So, rest we will have during these three days. I will be here in this beautiful city. I was very happy to arrive here, happy to see your airport as it is. I thought, maybe a lot of new buildings, how will I find the way, but I was happy to be here. You can’t imagine how my eyes were full of tears when I landed, that I am again here. So thank you for your coming, and I pray to Almighty for your good health, happiness, harmony, and long life. God protect you and your country. And practice. Thank you. May all be happy, may all be healthy, may I be protected and never experience any. Let me be protected and not experience pain. If anyone has questions, we have ten more minutes. But don’t ask me too complicated things, okay? That’s not easy, how this computer works and why not that computer, okay? Don’t ask me. But this computer, I can tell you, how we can get mantra from you, Zanati? You will get it, I tell the organizers. Molim. Question: About new methods of developing the mind and consciousness. If you can tell us something about new methods, how to develop the mind and consciousness through the transcendence of the mind. Yes, for that, there are certain things. First of all is nourishment. And in nourishment, you have to use more almonds, fruits, little grains, no meat, eggs, alcohol, no tobacco, and very little eating. Yes, you can use honey. This is a diet program. It will take you five years to come to that point, to have a right diet. We know this slogan: we don’t live for eating, but we eat for living. Yes. But when the plate comes on our table, we put the slogan to one side. So, a balanced diet, and this we call in yoga a kāya kalpa, regenerating the body again. It is true that you will regenerate it, and you will become younger. Second, prāṇāyāma. Prāṇāyāma is the key word, and that means oxygen, but prāṇāyāma, there is one prāṇāyāma course in yoga and in life, and that’s about a three to four year course, from very simple until you come to the kumbhakas, that you supply to your blood, to your... brain, to your entire body, in such a way, oxygen and purify all the toxins. Besides this, your practice is called self-inquiry meditation. In your imaginations, in the meditation. Then you will see that you will get such strong mental qualities. Then you use a mantra, and off you go. That mentally you can change the things while sitting here. This is a long sādhanā, but it is real and sure. The third or second exercise is called saṅkalpa. Then you do saṅkalpa in yoganidrā. In meditation, a suggestion, what they changed the word in the West, is called autogenic training. That is the technique which comes from meditation or yoga nidrā. There, you also train your memories. Try to remember telephone numbers. If you know five numbers, now try to know the ten. Then try to know the twelve, then fifteen, and like this. You know, very few people will be here who know by heart fifty telephone numbers. And very few will be there; if once one tells the telephone number, they will remember. Because of modern technology, it has destroyed our memory. The people from the countryside know many songs by heart, but people from the city don’t know. So that is the mental training. Head standing, śīrṣāsana. That supports very, very much. Next. Question: My challenge. My biggest challenge is that everyone in the world should be happy and not fight anymore. For me, the biggest challenge is for everyone in the world to be happy and not to worry about each other anymore. And for that, I need your support. And you did it already. Thank you. So, for today, luck or not.